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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22994074">Four things that always kinda bugged me about Angel: the Series</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowscast/pseuds/Shadowscast_meta'>Shadowscast_meta (Shadowscast)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Angel: the Series</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Meta, Nonfiction</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2010-06-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2010-06-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:42:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,097</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22994074</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowscast/pseuds/Shadowscast_meta</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>I did a re-watch of Angel: The Series, and at the end of it I had some lingering questions about a few plot points.  Specifically:</p>
<p>1) The Shanshu Prophecy<br/>2) The Apocalypse<br/>3) The Perfect Happiness<br/>4) Those damn Cyborg Ninjas</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>March Meta Matters Challenge</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Four things that always kinda bugged me about Angel: the Series</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Originally posted here: https://shadowscast.dreamwidth.org/103775.html</p>
<p>Uploaded to AO3 on 2020-03-02</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><strong>1)</strong>  <strong>The Shanshu Prophecy</strong></p>
<p>Let's not even talk about that scene at the very end of the series where Angel supposedly invalidates the entire Shanshu Prophecy by "signing it away" to satisfy Sebassis that he's fully committed to the Circle of the Black Thorn.  (Well, okay, let's talk about it a teensy bit: since when can you cancel an entire mystically-foreseen chain of events with just a little bit of paperwork?  Gotta say, that would've been handy when there was that prophecy about the Master killing Buffy.  Or that one about Angel killing Connor.)</p>
<p>The thing that <em>really</em> bothers me about the Shanshu Prophecy is that it was already completely fulfilled a third of the way through AtS season 1.  And nobody seems to have noticed.</p>
<p>Think about it!  What does the prophecy say?  Well, apparently lots of stuff, but there are two key points that everybody (ie: Angel, Wesley, Lilah, Lindsey, Spike, etc.) gets excited about.</p>
<p>One: The vampire with the soul will play a major role in an apocalyptic battle (though it's not clear which side he's going to be on).</p>
<p>Two: Afterwards, the vampire will become human.</p>
<p>(References: AtS <a href="http://vrya.net/bdb/clip.php?clip=4293">1.22</a>, <a href="http://vrya.net/bdb/clip.php?clip=5163">2.12</a>, <a href="http://vrya.net/bdb/clip.php?clip=5539">5.06</a>)</p>
<p>So, first of all, apocalyptic battles?  Take your pick!  Angel gave Buffy some help in defeating the Master.  He helped close the Hellmouth in BtVS 3.13, "The Zeppo."  But really, my money's on Acathla, at the end of BtVS season 2.  Sucking the entire world into hell?  That's pretty apocalyptic, that right there.  And Angel certainly played a major role.  There's a bit of a hitch, prophecy-wise, in that Angel was soulless at the time—but he did get his soul back right at the end, so I think it works.</p>
<p>Right, and then the turning-human thing.  It happened!  It happened in AtS episode 1.08, "I Will Remember You."  Remember?  Angel got some Mohra demon blood in him, which turned out to have a healing property so powerful that it actually healed his deadness.  He had a really nice day with Buffy, had sex without going evil, ate some delicious ice cream ... and then got his ass kicked in a fight and decided he needed his vampire superpowers back, and that the best solution was to <em>turn back time</em> 24 hours and prevent the whole thing from ever happening.  What?!</p>
<p>Sorry, Angel.  You had your Shanshu, and you blew it. </p>
<p><strong>2)</strong>  <strong>The Apocalypse</strong> </p>
<p>"The apocalypse, man. You're soaking in it." —Lindsey, AtS <a href="http://vrya.net/bdb/clip.php?clip=5978">5.17</a>.</p>
<p>So, there's this scene in AtS <a href="http://vrya.net/bdb/clip.php?clip=5012">2.15</a> where Holland Manners explains to Angel that hell is other people.  Wait, no, that was Sartre.  Okay, Holland's message is hard to sum up more succinctly than the scene itself, but I'll try.  Angel's trying to get to the "home office" of Wolfram &amp; Hart to kill the Senior Partners, and undead!Holland Manners takes him on an elevator ride.  Holland explains to Angel that W&amp;H isn't trying to "win" the apocalypse, exactly, because the status quo is just ducky.  Wolfram &amp; Hart is somehow identified with the evil that lurks in the heart and mind of every single living person.</p>
<p>I gotta say, the first time I saw this scene, I got chills when the elevator opened right back where they started.  I was all, "That was <em>profound</em>, man."</p>
<p>But when I watched the scene again, after having seen the series through, I got hung up on trying to figure out what it meant within the rules of the AtS universe.  Is Holland saying that all of human evil is rooted in an external malevolent source that could potentially be destroyed, leaving us all holding hands and singing Kumbaya in our earthly paradise?  Or is he saying that Wolfram &amp; Hart is really just a metaphor for human evil?  (I mean, clearly Wolfram &amp; Hart <em>is</em> just a metaphor for human evil, but it would be awfully fourth-wall-breaking for Holland to <em>know</em> that.)</p>
<p>Throughout AtS, the various major players at Wolfram &amp; Hart are preoccupied with the notion of some upcoming apocalypse in which Angel will play an important role.  At the end of the series, Lindsey suggests that the apocalypse has already been underway for quite some time, hearkening back to Holland Manners' "hell's on earth" message.</p>
<p>But, um, what does that <em>mean</em>?  If normal, everyday life on earth is the apocalypse, then what is Angel's role supposed to be?  Angel certainly isn't responsible for 10,000+ years of humans being nasty to each other.  Is he supposed to be able to <em>remove</em> the evil from our hearts, somehow?  I just don't get it!</p>
<p><strong>3)</strong>  <strong>The Perfect Happiness</strong> </p>
<p>Okay, we all know the terms of the curse: if Angel experiences a moment of perfect happiness, he'll lose his soul.  And we know that it <em>happened</em>, that this moment of perfect happiness was achieved, when Angel and Buffy had sex.  (Presumably at the moment of, er, climax.  At least, I've always been under that impression.)</p>
<p>Once Angel gets his soul back, the assumption is made that he and Buffy can't safely have sex anymore.  There is much repressed sexual tension, and angst, and finally Angel moves to LA and gets his own show.</p>
<p>But soon there's a hint that the "sex = perfect happiness" equation is maybe a little uncertain.  Angel says at one point "I'm not a eunuch. [...] I mean, the curse isn't even all that clear." (AtS <a href="http://vrya.net/bdb/clip.php?clip=4850">2.06</a>)  Having sex with Darla does not make Angel perfectly happy.  Neither does sex with Nina.  Dream!sex with Cordelia <em>does</em>, but of course that's a bit of a funny situation and anyway the dream includes a full day of wish-fulfillment before it even gets to the sex.</p>
<p>So, the first thing that bugs me is: could Angel ever actually achieve perfect happiness during sex again, given that now he's going to have the horrible potential consequences always and forever at the back of his mind?  I mean, wouldn't that knowledge automatically preclude perfect happiness, no matter who he was having sex with?</p>
<p>In other words, couldn't he safely have sex with Buffy now?  I mean, in theory, if she still wanted it after that last time?</p>
<p>And the second thing that bugs me is: couldn't perfect happiness occur in a <em>non</em>-sexual context, potentially?  I mean, what if one of these centuries he just has a really, really good day?</p>
<p>(I played with that idea once in a <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/77379">drabble</a>.)</p>
<p><strong>4)</strong>  <strong>Those damn Cyborg Ninjas</strong> </p>
<p>You know, the ones in "Lineage."  Who the hell sent them?!  And why?!  Gah!</p>
<p>And that is all I have to say about that.</p>
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